Investing in innovative cross-sector partnerships to advance gender equality

From Global Affairs Canada 

Today’s announcement in Vancouver, British Columbia, profiled three new matched-funding initiatives between the Department for Women and Gender Equality and national equality-seeking organizations to stimulate broader, longer-term funding options for women’s organizations and to sustainably advance gender equality in Canada.

By securing one-to-one fundraising commitments from these three organizations, the investment of up to $30 million from the Government of Canada will translate into up to $60 million of available funds to women’s organizations, creating a long-term, sustainable funding legacy to accelerate gender equality in Canada beyond federal funding cycles.

The Indigenous Innovation Initiative

Hosted by Grand Challenges Canada
Project title: The Indigenous Innovation Initiative
Funding amount: Up to $10 million

Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) is hosting and incubating an Indigenous-led, -designed and -delivered research and technology platform that will help empower Indigenous innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transforming lives and driving inclusive growth through social innovation.

GCC is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact. Funded by the Government of Canada and other funders, including the McConnell Foundation, GCC funds innovation projects in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas supported by GCC—known as integrated innovation—integrate science and technology, social and business innovation. GCC has supported over 1,000 innovations in 95 countries. GCC estimates that these innovations have the potential to save up to 1.6 million lives and improve up to 35 million lives by 2030.

Community Foundations of Canada 

Project: Investing Together to Foster Gender Equality in Communities from Coast to Coast to Coast 
Funding amount: Up to $10 million

Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) will receive funding to support gender equality across cultures and generations, rooted in the organization’s capabilities of partnership building, grant making, convening, financial leveraging, social finance and community knowledge. CFC, and its movement of community foundations, will focus on offering strategic grants and support to organizations that are working toward gender equality across the country, ensuring that all cultures and generations are taken into account.

CFC is the national network for Canada’s 191 community foundations and is part of a global network of more than 1,800 place-based foundations in 75 countries around the world. In Canada, CFC is a movement working to pursue a future in which everyone belongs. The organization mobilizes local knowledge, leadership and financial capital to support initiatives that benefit communities most.

Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Project: Time for 5: Advancing Sustainable Development Goal 5 in Canada
Funding amount: Up to $10 million

The partnership project with the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) will help Canada’s progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 to advance gender equality. The project will target rural, remote and Northern organizations serving women and girls where there are currently funding gaps, compared to urban or suburban areas. CWF will help address those gaps with a combination of capacity-building support, community-building activities, and networking by making grants available to long-term and emerging needs in rural, remote and northern communities.

CWF is Canada’s public foundation for women and girls that funds programs across Canada, prioritizing the communities where the need is greatest. These programs address four urgent issues: prevention of gender-based violence, women’s economic development, girls’ empowerment, and inclusive leadership. CWF works toward systemic change by bringing together community organizations across Canada to share knowledge and solutions. It is a national collaboration between grassroots leaders, issue experts, advocates and donors to raise awareness and keep up the momentum toward gender equality.

Published:

June 2, 2019


Author:

Grand Challenges Canada


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